NNPC, African Refinery sign historic co-location deal to boost refining capacity

Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has signed an agreement with African Refinery Port Harcourt (ARPHL) for the subscription of 15 per cent equity in Nigeria’s second largest private refinery after Dangote Refinery.

The agreement was executed by Mr. Omotayo Adebajo (Managing Director) on behalf of African Refinery Port Harcourt Limited (ARPHL) and Mr. Adedapo Segun, the NNPC Executive Vice-President, Downstream signed the agreement on behalf of NNPC Ltd.

The 15 per cent Share Subscription Agreement, which was finalised on Thursday at a signing ceremony at the NNPC Towers in Abuja is a crucial step towards increasing Nigeria’s refining capacity.

Adedapo Segun, the NNPC Executive Vice-President for Downstream, said after the signing of the agreement, “African Refinery is one of the partners we have been working with to co-locate in our various refinery assets and they are our partners for the Port Harcourt Refinery.

“The proposed 100kbpd will be co-located with the two existing refineries in the PHRC complex, and it will increase our refining capacity in Port Harcourt from 210kbpd to 310kbpd.

Tola Ayo-Adeyemi, Group Executive Director Legal, and Regulatory Compliance at African Refinery Group (ARG), speaking on behalf of the African Refinery Group stressed the significance of this collaboration, highlighting that the event signals NNPC Ltd’s full commitment to the ARPHL refinery project to be sited on 46 hectares of land within the Port Harcourt Refinery complex, Eleme, Rivers State.

The project stands as the largest private refinery in Nigeria’s South-South and South-East geo-political regions.

He noted, “NNPCL and ARPHL since signing a Project Framework in 2017 have made significant progress, that a groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for later in the year, and that the estimated project delivery schedule aims for commencement of construction in 2025, and commercial operations by 2027.”

The project will be developed in phases and upon completion, the refinery is anticipated to produce over 30 million litres of various petroleum products daily, including petrol, diesel, jet fuel, LPG, and LPFO. The project is estimated to cost over US$2 billion.

The agreement inked today is the penultimate stage in the cooperation documentation between NNPCL and ARPHL.

Among the dignitaries present at the signing ceremony were Ayo Adebajo, Chidi Momoh (NNPCL General Counsel & Company Secretary), and various representatives from NNPCL Management.